Welcome back everyone to another awesome episode of the boundless perception podcast. As usual, we have another great cosplayer for you today who goes by the name of @SoniaBladeCosplay. She’s a cosplayer based out of Austin Texas who has been cosplaying for about 4 years. If you happen to visit conventions in Texas you may run into her as she does an amazing Fran, Shera and Bell from beauty and the beast. If Texas conventions aren’t your thing, you will likely see her at Dragoncon, Anime Weekend Atlanta, or even Holiday Matsuri.
So we kicked off this interview by talking a bit about commuting to conventions. I personally end up driving to most of my conventions but that’s because I’m broke. @SoniaBladeCosplay gave some great tips on how to save money if you plan on flying to conventions. Specifically, instead of booking your flights at the same time, separate them into two one way flights. You can possibly save some money by switching airlines and playing with the arrivals times. Also I learned that I need to start planning my conventions long in advance. I am definitely a last-minute type of person and this forces me to pay increased prices. One key take away from this interview is plan ahead.
Next up we discussed traveling with cosplays. I’m always fearful of having TSA destroy my photography equipment and I believed cosplayers felt the same about their cosplays. As you can see from @SoniaBladeCosplay‘s Instagram, she has some rather large cosplays that have to be carefully packaged to arrive at the convention in one piece. Her secret to having everything arrive in one piece is vacuum sealing. For her Auron Cosplay, she actually brought the sword on the plane and constructed a special box to hold it. Fragile was taped all over the box and surprisingly it made it to the convention in one piece. Keep in mind that this sword does not come apart. She explains this process in greater detail so make sure you give the interview a listen.
Following this topic, we began discussing the cage used to create her large gowns. They are constructed from Hoop Steel. This material is incredibly strong and actually required bolt cutters to cut. I learned a ton about creating ball gowns as I had no clue how to even begin. If I ever need to create one in the future, I will definitely be hitting @SoniaBladeCosplay up. Switching away from ball gowns, we discussed her Ashe Cosplay. Nearly every piece of this cosplay was constructed from scratch. The most difficult part of this costume was the gun. She made it a bit too heavy but for being on a time crunch it turned out extremely well.
Finally, @SoniaBladeCosplay competes at conventions. Her costumes have gained her recognition and won prizes at various conventions. I really hope I can get to this point one day but for now I definitely have to keep practicing. There is so much more to this interview so make sure you give it a listen. I really enjoyed chatting with @SoniaBladeCosplay and would like to thank her again for taking the time to speak with me. I’ll say it again, MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW!!!
If you enjoyed this podcast, feel free to comment below and make sure you check out some of the other interviews HERE. Also, check out my BLOG and YOUTUBE for more amazing cosplay content and material. Thanks so much again for taking the time to check out my site. Stay safe and until next time, stay BOUNDLESS!!!
